Pawns are greater than the King
by Lu Chao
Summary: Follow a person's life as they prove that Pawns are greater than the King, a tale of mystery and adventure. Rated PG only for some detailed description of gore.
1. The beginning of everything

Pawns are greater than the King  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own magic: the gathering, any similarities to other story lines are purely coincidental.  
  
Do NOT copy this. If you want to you MUST contact me to gain permission.

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Chapter One:  
The beginning of everything.  
  
I don't keep track of time anymore, but it has been a long time since my birth. I was born into a poor family of little wealth or trappings. I had to learn quick, I was working not long after my birth, I had to keep shelter above my head. If I did not work, I did not eat. Even when ill. My childhood was short lived, and for that I am thankful. For you see my life didn't start until that was over. But it still does hold significance. It shaped much of what I did later on in life. Best that story be kept for later.  
  
Once I left home, the world daunted me. I had not known what it was like, less I be distracted and not work during childhood. It bore on me a great strain. It was many months before I found work, used to the strains of living so rough I did not mind it. It was soothing, a home from home feeling. It was in this job, I might a blacksmith. He classical of his stereotype. Short, strong and hardly any hair; it most probably being constantly singed by the large embers by his side. His confidence and stubbornness worn like a large broach on his bare chest, it was not long till he came up to me.  
  
This time being so crucial to me, I shall never forget. He came up and asked me my name. I told him, his eyes lit up. Due to just my name he had seen me as a friend. His booming voice that had asked my name, now was quite; if not timid. Almost by a whisper he told me his name was Hellrach. I did further ask why he has such an unusual name, but he bid me not to inquire. He took me under his proverbial wing and I stopped sweeping dirt and started to learn how to be a blacksmith. The actual manufacture was long, laboring and for the most part dull. However it was contradicted when the product was complete. To create something new, out of something that has been buried in the ground for thousands of years is marvelous.   
  
For many a year I worked with Hellrach, he teaching me all his knowledge. He was surprised by my abnormal rate to take in and assimilate knowledge. Though it took time, and a lot of effort I did eventually surpass Hellrach, but by this time we had both grown. Unfortunately as I grew stronger, he grew into old age and declined in his abilities. Being stubborn he did not stop work, and he died whilst striking his ever faithful anvil.   
  
I had never experienced death of a companion before. I had killed and eaten many an animal, and hardly known relatives had died. But never one as close as Hellrach. I was sad, I even had to pick his searing flesh off of the red hot anvil upon which his lifeless body lay. At this point I was overcome with feelings of hate, compassion and sadness. I did not work until his burial. It did not seem right. I paid my homage in a blacksmith way. My best piece of metal work I had ever made I laid in his coffin, and then as if by instinct I returned him to the flames which he much did love. The wood of the coffin burnt, his skin crackled. His body had gone, gone to where it should be. The transition made by the contained heat we had in that furnace.   
  
The ritual over, my mind, heart, body and soul now cleaned of my guilt as I gave him the accumulation of what he taught and had instilled in me. As with father and son, I took his position as a black smith. I could not stand the place, the constant reminder. The tools Hellrach used to teach me, the anvil upon which he died. I decided to leave, to leave and remember, but not be reminded of. However in such a woeful time my pain did not easily go. Just as I decide to leave, I was demanded by a request. A request that eventually changed my life forever.

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Well that's all for now. Please r&r. Once I have received sufficient reviews I'll carry on the story.  
  
Lu Chao  
  


  



	2. Whatever will be, will be

Pawns are greater than the King  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own magic: the gathering, any similarities to other story lines are purely coincidental.  
  
Do NOT copy this. If you want to you MUST contact me to gain permission.  
  


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Chapter Two:  
Whatever will be, will be.  
  
Out of all the things requested of me, and wanted of me, I was not prepared for what I was about to be asked for. Hellrach, had just died, and I was going to leave because of that fact. I was to produce a weapon. My immediate reaction to this, was that I had only produced ornaments and eating implements, the nearest I got to a weapon was a butter knife. The details of the weapon, I was not told, all they said is to create a weapon, then if they were satisfied they would pay me handsomely. At first, I was sceptical that they would pay me after I had finished, but to urge me on they gave what they called "an incentive", though it was more of a deposit. With that "incentive" I set off to work.   
  
Unfortunately for myself, I spent this deposit on mostly material, the finest metals that I could buy, I liked the word 'handsomely'. Next was what to build, I knew how to make a knife, but not a sword, or axe or any small are large bladed weapon, so rather than build anything that had been established, I decided to try and make something unique.   
  
After many hours slaving over some parchments with a piece of charcoal in hand, I decided to just let my hand take me where ever it should take me. I do believe though that my mind's conceptions were to detailed to be drawn by my hand. Eventually the design came to practicality. I was to build a long metal shaft, and eight small blades. the weapon would be much like a spear, however with four blades at each end of the shaft. This meant that I did not have a produce a large blade, but smaller ones, and a simple shaft.  
  
This simplicity meant that my work was supposed to be quickly finished, little did I know that it takes many hours at a grinding wheel to get the finest metals sharpened. My arm's aching more than normal, and my back in throbbing pain, I rested and waited for my commissioner to arrive.   
  
This time, I remember most vividly, but however it was ultimately dull, and I shall not bore you with it, I'll skip straight to when the commissioner arrived. His small stature was more than compensated for by his myriad of guards and ornate clothing, I was in rags, tattered and torn. At this point, and only at this point he told me his name, Therian. This name he had given to himself, it was too soft to be that of local origin. He told me that this weapon would be for his wife.  
  
This got me in doubt immediately, I had built a weapon for a warrior with large upper-body strength and tall stature.  
  
But then his wife walked in. She was tall, and had large upper-body strength. If he was the brains of the outfit, she was certainly the muscle. Her paw like hands grasping the bladed pole, she was at first annoyed then curious.  
  
She like the weapon, it being different. I could almost sense her strategic side thinking, that if this is a weapon none knew of, then if in war it would be an advantage.  
  
After this worrying time of like and dislike was over, I was invited to come to a feast which Therian was hosting. This was dissatisfying, I expected pay, and instead I got hospitality, little did I know at this point that the latter is far more important if I one wishes to get up in the world.  
  
That night, at this feast I was introduced to many a name that I forgot instantly, but I got talking to Therian's wife. She told me many stories that her father had told her, and how she was trained as a warrior to satisfy her father's need for a son which he never got. I was disheartened at the fact, I being very much disappointed with what I was forced to do in my childhood.   
  
Many hours passed, and when all Therian's stately guests went, he affirmatively, but discretely handed me a sum of money, a some of money most fitting and then some.   
  
With money and hand, and adventure in mind, I decided to hit the road, little did I know that the road I would choose what be one not desired, nor wanted by many.  
  


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Well that's chapter two, hope you enjoyed it. Please r&r.   
Lu Chao


	3. A road by any other name

Pawns are greater than the King  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own magic: the gathering, any similarities to other story lines are purely coincidental.  
  
Do NOT copy this. If you want to you MUST contact me to gain permission.

* * *

Chapter Three:  
A road by any other name.  
  
Unlike most that choose to broaden their horizons by going onward and outward into the unknown, I was not seeking adventure or even a great perilous quest. It had been done before, and my father had told me many a time what he had done when he was a new man. I despised it, why waist energy on being selfless. Selflessness is a fools virtue, and that's what my father was.  
  
I was rather leading on to find homestead. Though not of a farm where I would work as I did when I was young, but rather a smith's home. Furnace, flame and an untarnished anvil by which to weave my creations.  
  
The first stage of my journey was not that perilous, however it did hold great significance, there I met somebody who I do now so wish to never meet again. Even to this day I have never known it's name nor it's gender, if it does so have one. I shall not speculate that now, but instead shall tell you of what happened.  
  
On the fifth night of my journey I gravitated towards rather a large city. All paths from my village came to this city. It was a bureaucratic measure to sell, trade and check all those coming in and out of it's myriad of small villages around it. One of which was unfortunately mine.   
  
This city, was much talked about by my family, although I would be the first to enter its overpowering walls that sent shiver's down even my spine. To enter it was to succumb to harsh, corrupt law. I had to go through it, my only choice.  
  
Like most that enter from the villages, I was put to one side, and checked by many 'law' enforcers before I could continue. As luck would have the city had many paths through it, all leading to the same exit. My judgement here let me down. Being the direct person I am, I went for the middle path. It was in this path I met this somebody.  
  
As of the stories told to me about the city, I was particular vigilant. Thinking that none would be interested in the worthless possessions I had on me. How wrong was I. The most precious thing I had on my person, was a hammer. It being small and not of much weight, it was a precision tool.   
  
Late that night, I was about a third of the way through the city, having arrived there in the morning. I entered into a small recess by the side of the path. It was one of many littered across the side of the road. Most were full, and seeming to burst through the heavy stone that enclosed them. This led me to choose one that was not full. I was quite suspicious when i found one that was empty, considering others beside it were full. My tiredness and need for rest overcame my conscious objection.   
  
At first I lay there, my muscles aching, and it was not long till I sleep. I entered a sleep that is only second to death. The walls around me could have shuddered and crumbled around me, a large dragon could have flew over belching fireballs and causing the whole city to scream, I would have not flinched. This was my peril.   
  
Through the crevice a large band of 'law' enforcers came rushing in, trampling me into the ground, and shoving me out the way. They grabbed my food and water, and though I did not notice at the time, my hammer. This caused me much uproar. And as such I protested.  
  
Protest did me no good, it did me worse. I was hoisted like an animal into a cell. This angered me to no end, I had been locked in a cell before, in my youth.   
  
Four days into my incarceration and I had got nowhere. They would not let me see trial, they would not let me leave for fresh air. The iron gates surrounding me, the smell of excrement of those that has already gone mad, and I was leading to the same fate.

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A bit longer than usual. What do you think of this length. Please r&r.  
Lu Chao  
  



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